


Fauns and Fairytales

by LadyYueh



Series: Little King [2]
Category: El Laberinto del Fauno | Pan's Labyrinth (2006), Labyrinth (1986), Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Kid Fic, estel elrondion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-14
Updated: 2012-01-14
Packaged: 2017-10-29 12:35:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/319940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyYueh/pseuds/LadyYueh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Estel leaves Jareth's protection and happens upon a singular creature.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fauns and Fairytales

Someone was running the labyrinth and Estel was **bored**.

Everyone was busy. The few goblins that had been left for him to play with were silly, boring, and easily tricked.

Jareth said the labyrinth was a necessary trial, a test of character and virtue. Estel hadn’t believed him until he’d first met a wished away child, a sobbing little girl.

Estel had asked to be allowed to help, to be a part of Labyrinth, but Jareth had forbidden him after the words had scarcely left his mouth.

*** __

 _“Why won’t you let me help?” Estel questioned with the willful passion of youth. His mouth was set, his stance firm and his eyes were bright with challenge._

 _Jareth’s lips twitched in amusement at the display. Nine he might be, but Estel was exhibiting the attitude of one with royal lineage._

 _How to discourage the boy without having him throw a fit of childish rebellion?_

 _“The labyrinth consists of my subjects, Estel. Unless you are suggesting that you will stay here indefinitely without ever seeing your family again, then you cannot participate.”_

 _Estel’s stance loosened, his eyes clouded and his mouth fell into a pout (though Jareth could tell that Estel meant to frown in a dark manner and was simply incapable)._

 _“As you say,” Estel acceded._

 __***

So Estel had dodged his dim caretakers and decided to explore other areas of the Underground.

The forests of the Underground were very much unlike those of Imladris. The trees there were lush and vibrant, filled with vivid colors. Creatures filled their branches--birds, squirrels, sometimes elves. They were **alive**.

Not that these trees were not alive. They grew but their growth seemed slower, more slumberous, and shadowed as if they held deep secrets. The forest was like twilight. Some places were light and others touched by the dark.

Not that one place was more or better than the other. Different, yes, but also the same.

But creeping through the forest was not much fun when done alone and it was only when he spied an odd configuration of large stones that a frisson of interest made him straighten.

A feeling was growing within him and it fed the excitement in his belly.

Something was going to happen.

Once he was close enough, he scrutinized the stones. Ada and Jareth both (Jareth especially), had told him of the ways of magic--that words and objects had power--and this place was heavy with the tang of it.

There was beauty in the circular construction. The carved stone that served as a floor had a certain allure as did the elegantly hewn statue at its center.

But the growing wood that seemed to be affixed to a point was what drew Estel. He would have said it to be a tree but no tree he had ever seen looked so much like a living being, as if it would rise and speak, and no wood could grow from stone.

He drew closer to what looked a like a face with alien features but still visibly shut in repose. It was not a man or elf, perhaps a goblin? But it was much too large. It had the legs and feet of some hoofed animal, as well as horns, but there was _something_...

He extended a hand.

A breath was drawn the moment his fingers made contact with the warm, _living_ flesh. Flesh, not wood. The sound, it was like the wind blowing through the leaves and the creak which accompanied it was that of moving branches.

The being rose up, much taller than Estel. Its eyes opened and his face turned in question.

“Who are you?” The words were slow and sibilant, but the question was filled with a quick intelligence that was inhuman.

Estel, who had been raised among elves and frolicked with goblins and faeries was unafraid. He stepped forward and executed a greeting in the way of the elves. “I am Estel Elrondion, guest of the Goblin King Jareth.”

“You are mortal,” the being sounded surprised. “Long has it been since I have met one of the Eldar. You have the feel of them though you currently smell of faerie.”

“You have not introduced yourself,” Estel reminded him, for he was very curious.

“I am a faun,” the faun executed a bow that should have looked ridiculous yet did not.

“But that is not your name!” Estel protested.

“No,” the faun agreed. “But my name cannot be spoken by mortal lips though it is known by wind and trees and earth.”

Estel frowned. “Is it forbidden or simply too difficult to pronounce?”

The faun blinked, an expression of surprise, before laughing.

“Both,” he answered with a wheeze.

“What are you doing in the Underground?” Estel questioned.

Now the faun’s face was unreadable, mysterious. “But I am not in the Underground.”

He continued to speak before Estel could continue to question him.

“I am from the Underworld, little mortal and I have a story to tell any who might listen.”

Estel quieted.

He sat and stared up with curious silver eyes, ready to be regaled with a tale.

The faun smiled.

“Long ago in the Underworld Realm where there are no lies or pain, there lived a Princess who dreamt of the mortal world…”

\------------------


End file.
